ºÚÁÏÉç

ºÚÁÏÉç (CPSBC) employees, board and committee members are reflecting on the tragic legacy of residential schools and colonization across the country as we honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and on September 30.

We encourage all British Columbians, including our registrants and health partners, to remember the victims and survivors of the residential school system. We also urge everyone to take time to deepen their understanding of Indigenous cultural safety and humility. 

CPSBC continues to work towards ensuring Indigenous patients in BC are receiving culturally safe care. In 2023, we undertook a critical review of the complaints process to identify opportunities to make it safer and more accessible for Indigenous Peoples. The work to implement the review’s 11 recommendations is now either in progress or complete. This includes hiring an Indigenous pathways development lead to help build authentic relationships with Indigenous people and communities. More information on the efforts to update to the complaints process is available in our first progress report.

We recently assessed registrant awareness and application of the Indigenous Cultural Safety, Cultural Humility, and Anti-racism practice standard, which was launched in 2022. The results, outlined in this evaluation report, demonstrated that we need to do more to increase registrant understanding of the standard, including how to apply it in practice. Moving forward, CPSBC will focus on building awareness of the standard and its accompanying learning resources, and providing registrants with concrete examples of how to apply the standard. We have started to share case studies in the ºÚÁÏÉç Connector, and produced two episodes to highlight practical suggestions for breaking down systemic barriers and providing Indigenous patients with culturally safe care.

Our accreditation programs have also adopted standards for providing culturally safe and anti-racist care for Indigenous patients in CPSBC-accredited facilities. These standards apply to both registrants and non-registrant staff.

We look forward to sharing our future actions towards cultural safety and humility as we make progress over the coming years. Reconciliation is ongoing and we are committed to looking inward and doing our part to protect the safety of Indigenous patients in BC.

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